Half of Russians favour ban on adoptions by US: Poll

Moscow, Jan 30 (IANS/RIA Novosti) Fifty percent of respondents in a nationwide poll are in favour of the recently introduced law banning child adoptions by Americans.

The Levada Center pollster said Wednesday 31 percent of respondents oppose the new legislation.

The poll, conducted Jan 18-21, also found that 39 percent of respondents have nothing against adoptions of Russian children by families from the US and Europe.

However, they said the government must closely monitor and control the lives of adopted children in their new families.

Twenty-two percent of respondents said Americans and Europeans may be allowed to adopt Russian children only in extraordinary situations, such as in cases of grave illnesses.

The results of the poll, which included some 1,600 respondents across Russia, contradict an earlier January survey by state-run VTsIOM pollster, which also questioned some 1,600 respondents.

The VTsIOM survey said 76 percent of Russian respondents believed Americans must be barred from adopting Russian children, while 53 percent thought the ban should apply to any foreign national.

Russia's controversial ban on US adoptions came into force Jan 1 as part of a wider response to Washington's approval of the so-called Magnitsky Act, which introduces sanctions against Russian officials suspected of human rights abuses.

--IANS/RIA Novosti

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